Improving the Regulation and Management of Low-Activity Radioactive Wastes (2006) / Chapter Skim
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Overview & Summary
Overview & Summary
Pages 1-10
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In this report, the authoring committee2 develops its vision of a riskinformed system for regulating and managing all types of low-activity waste in the United States. The framework for risk-informed decision making combines scientific risk assessment with public values and perceptions.
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In addressing its charge, the committee sought to be practical. The report discusses and recommends a four-tiered system of change based on established principles for risk-informed decision making, current riskinformed initiatives by waste regulators in the United States and abroad, solutions available under current regulatory authorities, and opportunities for focused legislation as needed if simpler approaches are inadequate.
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Not all of these wastes are produced by enterprises that use nuclear materials or ionizing radiation -- million cubic meter per year volumes arise incidentally in nonnuclear enterprises, primarily mineral mining and oil and gas recovery. These latter wastes contain naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM)
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The interim report, reprinted in Appendix A of this report, gives an overview of the current LAW system in the United States: waste characteristics, inventories, management and disposal practices, and federal and state regulations that control these wastes. In the interim report the committee found that there is adequate authority for managing LAW.
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To prepare this final report, the committee considered a number of options for improving the current system of LAW management. The committee came to the conclusion that a "risk-informed" approach would provide the best option for improving LAW regulation and management practices in the United States.
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Improving the system will require continued integration and coordination among regulatory agencies including the USNRC, EPA, DOE, DOD, and other federal and state agencies. While current statutes and regulations for LAW provide adequate authority for protection of workers and the public, current practices are complex, inconsistent, and not based on a systematic consideration of risks.
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· There is no generalized provision for wastes that contain very low concentrations of radioactivity to exit the regulatory system, although there are examples of case-by-case exemption or clearance of some such wastes. Recommendation 2 The committee recommends that regulatory agencies adopt a risk informed LAW system in incremental steps, relying mainly on their existing authorities under current statutes, and using a four-tiered approach: (1)
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Besides outreach, another way a few government organizations in Europe and the United States have helped public stakeholders become more central in risk decision-making processes is by helping them hire their own technical experts. While agencies with responsibility for LAW in the United States have improved their efforts to involve the public in waste disposal decisions, many citizens continue to perceive those efforts as falling short of their intended goals.
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Public stakeholders are likely to be more receptive to waste management practices that are known to be accepted and implemented in other developed countries. If waste management technical experts and regulators develop broad agreement, publics might be more trusting of their ability
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CONCLUSION The committee concluded that, while challenging, it is possible to move in incremental steps to a more risk-informed system for controlling management and disposition of radioactive materials. In contrast with the patchwork evolution of the past 60 years, stepwise implementation would move in a consistent direction: away from regulating LAW according to how or when it was generated and toward regulation based on the actual hazard and potential risk of the material.
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